


First Night

by DancesWithCybermen



Series: The Next Files Series [2]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Babyfic, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 14:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17143718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancesWithCybermen/pseuds/DancesWithCybermen
Summary: Mulder and Scully’s first night with their newborn in the hospital.





	First Night

After taking Jackson home, feeding the dog, and getting some food for himself, Mulder returned to the hospital just after 8 p.m. Visiting hours had ended for everyone else, but dads were allowed anytime, 24/7.

Dads. He was a dad. He still couldn’t believe it.

The lights in the room were out, and Scully was sleeping, so he tiptoed in and very gently shut the door. It had been a busy day, with a steady stream of text messages, phone calls, and visitors wanting to meet their new arrival. Lily was in a bassinet next to her bedside so that she would have easy access, dressed in an orange Halloween jack o’ lantern onesie and matching knit cap that Mulder had tucked into Scully’s hospital bag.

He regarded his new daughter’s sleeping form. Scully and Dr. Adams had told him that Lily was a big baby, but she looked ever so small and delicate to him, like a doll. He gently picked her up, supporting her head, the way the nurses had told him, and carried her across the room, over to the window. He sat down in the chair and looked outside; he could see light snow in the streetlights.

“It’s your first night, and your first snowfall,” he whispered, brushing his lips against her forehead. “When you get older, we’ll build snowmen, and make snow angels, and have snowball fights, and go sledding. You’re going to love your home. We’ve got acres of land for you to play on and a big dog who’s going to want to be your best friend.” Lily stirred slightly in her sleep, making grunting noises but not waking.

“You won’t understand this for a few more years, but you’re very special. Your whole family is special. Your mommy and I are a lot older than most parents. We’re going to stay as healthy as we can so that we can play and do normal things with you, but a lot of people are going to think we’re your grandparents. A lot of people already thought that when I was buying toys and clothes for you. I had cashiers ask me if this was my first grandchild.” Mulder chuckled. “Maybe Daddy should dye his hair and grow it long, like a rock star. Would you like that? I don’t know if Mommy would.” He glanced at his wife. Still sleeping. He continued.

“Your brother is special, too. He has special powers, and Mommy and Daddy are teaching him to use them for good. He’s a lot older than you. He’s old enough to be your dad, but if he makes Daddy a grandfather too soon, Daddy’s going to go nuclear on him, powers or no powers. Then Mommy will have her turn, and she’s even meaner than Daddy. Mommy wants your brother to go to college and get a good job.

“We don’t know if you have special powers, Lily. Your brother said he could hear you when you were in Mommy’s tummy, but we don’t know what that means. Just know, Lily, that even if you don’t have any special powers, you are so, so special to Mommy and Daddy, and we love you so much. I don’t know why you came to us so much later in life, but I’d like to think there’s a reason for it, like your brother’s girlfriend says. She thinks there’s a reason everything happens. I don’t know about there being a reason behind everything, but I know there was a reason I met your Mommy. She saved me. I don’t think I’d still be here if it wasn’t for her. She was the light in my darkness.

“You were named after a flower that blooms in the darkness. You’re the flower that bloomed in our darkness. We may not have expected you, but don’t you ever think, even for a moment, that we didn’t want you. We loved and wanted you from the moment we found out about you.”

Mulder kissed Lily’s forehead, then grazed her chubby little cheek with his finger. Lily grunted and turned her head towards his finger, making sucking motions with her mouth. When she wasn’t rewarded with food, she opened her eyes, and Mulder swore he saw her take a deep breath before letting out a long, ear-piercing howl of protest.

Mulder felt like his eardrums had been blown out. How could something so tiny and dainty be so loud?

He heard Scully groan. “She goes from zero to screaming in 0.4 seconds, just like her father. Bring her over.” Scully winced as she sat up. Jackson had healed her injuries from the car accident, but not the experience of childbirth. She was clearly sore all over, but her face lit up when Mulder placed Lily in her arms, and she opened her gown to give the baby access to her breast. Lily eagerly latched on and let out little grunts of pleasure as she fed.

Mulder scooted a chair over so that he could hold his wife and put his chin on her shoulder. He loved holding her while she fed Lily. “I hope I didn’t wake her up. You need your rest.”

“No, it was about time for her to feed again. She’ll eat about every two or three hours for a while.” Scully ruffled his hair with her free hand. “You would look absolutely ridiculous with long hair, Mulder.”

“Hey! I would look like a rock star.”

“An aging rock star who’s desperately trying to recapture his youth.” She gazed lovingly at Lily. “When she’s in high school, we’ll be in our 70s. We can do this, can’t we, Mulder? I love her so much, and I don’t want her missing out on anything because we’re old enough to be her grandparents.”

“We’ll make it work. We always do. I think we have an advantage that a lot of younger parents don’t have. We have life experience.”

Scully laughed. “I don’t know if our experiences are relevant to parenthood.”

“Stopping a global conspiracy to wipe out human life and aid and abet an alien invasion – parenting a child. I see many transferable skills.” He kissed her temple. “Let’s face it, Scully. She’s the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Spooky and the sister of their son, who has extra alien DNA and special powers. Her life was never going to be normal, even if we’d had her 15 years ago. But she could have done a lot worse. We love her and want her.”

Scully removed Lily’s cap so she could stroke the baby’s smattering of red curls. “It’s supposed to really start coming down out there. I thought you would just stay home, Mulder. You left Jackson there by himself?”

“Mmmm hmmm. Dads can come whenever they want and stay as long as they want. I’m staying the night. Your night nurse said she’d bring me a pillow and a blanket.”

Scully raised her eyebrow. “Our son is 17 and seems to be serious about his girlfriend. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I told the boy that if he entertained any visitors, especially his girlfriend, I would not only take away his truck keys for a month, but I would also personally drive him to school every morning and pick him up every day, at the front door and in full view of all his classmates, wearing my squatchin’ suit. He took this threat very seriously.”

Scully laughed so hard, she winced from the pain. “You’re a lot meaner than I am, Mulder.”

“I told you we had transferrable skills. We’ve got this, honey.”

Scully transferred Lily to the opposite breast and shared a kiss with her husband. “I guess we do.”


End file.
